Kamala Harris will be sworn in on a Bible that belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice
- Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in with a Bible that belonged to Thurgood Marshall.
- Marshall was a lawyer, civil rights activist, and the first Black Supreme Court justice.
- Harris called Marshall "one of my heroes and inspirations" in her memoir.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will use the Bible of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice, when she is sworn in as vice president on Wednesday.
Harris will also involve a Bible that belonged to Regina Shelton, a family friend whose house she and her sister Maya visited every day after school. She previously used Shelton's Bible to swear in as California attorney general and a US senator.
Harris will become the first Black and South Asian female vice president in American history. Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice, will administer the oath of office.
Marshall was a lawyer and civil rights activist. As a lawyer, he argued before the Supreme Court in many famous civil rights cases, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that found "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1967. He supported abortion rights in Roe v. Wade and opposed the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia before retiring in 1991. He died two years later.
In her memoir "The Truths We Hold," Harris calls Marshall "one of my heroes and inspirations."